


Parable

by hakura0



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, s9 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24899074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hakura0/pseuds/hakura0
Summary: She's near the edge of the bazaar - that was the word for it - when someone catches her eye. Partially, because human wasn't a very popular look around those parts at all and possibly because, alright, she probably would've caught her eye anyway, all big brown eyes and soft-looking hair.The girl gestures for her to follow her, slipping into an alley and Bill obeys, and hopes she's not going to be had by some sort of space siren. It wasn't that she didn't learn, just...
Relationships: Twelfth Doctor & Bill Potts, Twelfth Doctor & Clara Oswin Oswald
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	Parable

Bill's only a little turned around on - on whatever mouthful the Doctor had called this planet. They were in a market, she knew that much, and she'd read enough accounts about people travelling on planet - not to mention those kids on the Thames - to have her hands in her pockets, one on her phone.

The Doctor was looking for a part, completely vital to the upkeep of the vault. Well. That's what he'd told Nardole. She was pretty sure that he was looking for trouble.

Mind, she wasn't sure where he expected to find it in what actually seemed to be a giant booth full of electronic salvage. He always seemed to manage. Bill had been intending to find a quick souvenir and have his back, or just lend her ear as he went over in detail what the bits and bobs had been part of once but... That was proving difficult.

It wasn't that she didn't know the way. She wasn't an idiot. It was just that when she tried, some short, grumpy security alien dressed like the Stig had refused to let her past. So she had to find the long way around. 

If there was one, anyway.

She's near the edge of the bazaar - that was the word for it - when someone catches her eye. Partially, because human wasn't a very popular look around those parts at all and possibly because, alright, she probably would've caught her eye anyway, all big brown eyes and soft-looking hair.

The girl gestures for her to follow her, slipping into an alley and Bill obeys, and hopes she's not going to be had by some sort of space siren. It wasn't that she didn't learn, just...

It didn't matter what the just was, because she was standing there, leaned against a wall that looked as out of place as she did, arms crossed over her chest. It's quieter there, and Bill can feel her heart beating too fast in her chest.

"Hey," she tries, when the other girl - make that woman now she had a closer look - seems to be lost in thought, "you were looking for me, right? I just..."

"I was, it's fine." There's something soothing about her voice, and it almost makes her laugh, the idea of actually finding someone else British out there, and she manages to not but her face still goes ahead and grins like an idiot on her.

"What's up?"

The stranger's lips part, and she looks almost lost. Farther away from their conversation than Bill herself was from Earth. Then, in the time it takes for a breath she's back, so present that she can't take pull her eyes away from her.

"Thank you. For giving him back the stars. Even just for giving him the excuse. He needs them. He needs..." She pauses, and Bill would reach out and touch her arm except she feels rooted to the spot. "He needs more than I could tell you if I kept you here for a week," the stranger laughs, but there's something sad in her tone. In her eyes. "Mostly? He needs someone who cares. About him. About... everything. The way he does."

"The Doctor, you mean?" Bill asks, making sure. "You know him? We're parked just back near this place with some really good alien bubble tea, you can-" She half turns in what she hopes is the direction she came in, gesturing, making to move and the girl grabs her wrist.

"No-" The word is half plea, half order. The word breaks in half when she says it, and when Bill turns back the woman looks as if the same thing's happened to her.

"Okay," Bill tells her, voice as soothing as she can make it, free hand held up in surrender. "You don't want to say hi. Got it." The hand loosens, and she takes the opportunity to step back, wary. Because people who wanted to avoid the Doctor weren't generally good news, were they? "Who are you, anyway?"

"No one," the woman tells her, "I wasn't here. If he asks-"

"He'll ask." Bill cuts her off without hesitation, and they share a brief smile, even with the whirlwind of questions Bill knows she's never going to get to ask let alone get answers for blowing around in her head.

"If you have to tell him about this, if you have to say something just... Tell him River says hello." There's pain in the woman's expression, a wetness in her eyes that Bill is all too familiar with, and this time she isn't quite as rooted. She takes a step closer, and touches the strange woman's arm.

"You're not River, are you?" Bill asks her, watches as she bites her lip, shakes her head in response. 

"You're smart," the woman tells her, and Bill thinks, having seen her for a few moments longer now, that she's around her age probably. "If... If you're going to have to tell him anyway, can you do one more thing for me?"

It's not too hard for Bill to trace her own steps back, and she's beyond relieved not to run into security again. No one had stopped her at all, other than for a few moments to try encouraging her to buy some jewelry. Which had happily satisfied her desire for a souvenir, even if she wasn't quite sure how she'd wear the piece when it definitely wasn't made for humans. It was pretty though.

The Doctor is about five feet from where she'd seen him last, talking the ear off of some fellow bazaar-goer about one of the pieces or another.

"Doctor - Did you find it?" Bill asks, getting his attention while the alien he'd been speaking to slipped away from the impromptu history lesson.

"Nah," the Doctor tells her, putting holding up a piece of something, "they've mostly got a lot of junk. Historic junk, but still." He rolls his eyes a little, and makes a show of putting it back in an empty spot on the table, before starting to stride off back in the direction of the TARDIS. "It's really very quiet around here today. Shame. You find your souvenir?"

"A necklace. At least, I think it's a necklace?" She smiles, holding up the little net bag she'd been given to carry it in, the odd colorful sheen coming out.

"I'll take a look in the TARDIS," he assures her, even as it comes into sight. "I'm sure we can figure it out, and I'll make sure it's not radioactive or anything. Doesn't smell it, but it can't hurt to be safe." 

"They'd sell me a radioactive maybe-necklace? Isn't that a little unsafe?" Bill wants to know, and the Doctor scoffs.

"Unsafe for you, sure. Not everyone's as sensitive as humans are. Could be their version of those magnetic arthritis you lot have."

"So I've been got?"

"Nah. I haven't had a look, and if you like it who cares?" He shrugs, opening the TARDIS door with a quick snap of his fingers. She enters at his gesture, and he follows behind her, shutting the door with another snap as he heads for the console. "So. What trouble did you get into without me?"

For a moment, part of Bill wants to lie, but there's something in his tone that tells her that'd be pointless. He's at the controls already by the time she speaks, the engine vworping to life. "Just ran into this woman there..." She starts, as if to shrug off the entire thing.

"Oh?" he asks, turning to face her once they were in the vortex, amusement visible in his eyes. "I'm impressed you could tell, people usually have trouble."

"No, she was human. At least, y'know, she looked human - I know that doesn't mean anything," Bill addends quickly, "Obviously. I've met you." Her nerves were growing now, especially with the Doctor's gaze back on her. It was more than obvious that the Doctor could tell, his expression growing more serious, though his voice softened.

"Tell me."

"She just... Thanked me. For traveling with you, like? Which, obviously, no thanks necessary. I mean, we've covered this is wizard?" The longer the Doctor's eyes were on her, the less she could stop herself talking, "Said to tell you that River said hi. Oh, and to give you this."

"What?" He takes a few steps closer to her, something guarded in his face, but almost eager.

Bill all but shrugs, moving forward to close the distance and wrapping her arms around him, "this." 

For a moment, things feel almost frozen, the Doctor still until he reaches up and puts a hand on Bill's shoulder and she lets go, takes the step back.

"Sorry," Bill starts, but the Doctor shakes his head. He seems confused, more than anything, like he's trying to put something together. 

"Don't be. Was she about yea tall, lots of hair?" He was still thinking, and his estimate for height fluctuated over a foot, but regardless she shook her head.

"Shorter. Normal amount of hair. Pretty," she adds, like maybe that would be helpful. "She admitted she wasn't River, but... That's what she told me to say. 'River says hi.' I don't get it, but..."

"That's okay. I..." He was lost in thought, she could tell, rubbing the knuckles of one hand, with the other like there was some phantom pain there. "I don't think I do either. But there's something, right here-" The Doctor presses his finger hard to his temple, "right on the tip of my... ah. Basal ganglia" He pulls his hand back, gesturing towards her as she speaks, something absolutely earnest in his expression. "Can you, can you give me that again?" 

"Give you..." Bill trails off, the connection taking a moment to spark, "give you another hug?"

"Yes," the Doctor starts, still looking for all the world like he was on the brink of solving some puzzle whose resolution the universe depended on.

"Okay?" 

Almost as soon as the word was out he was already speaking again, just a single "but," voiced out loud that keeps her still, waiting for whatever he was going to say.

What he does isn't speak, what he does is move forward himself, deep concentration etched into every line of his face, like he was trying to remember the steps of an old dance as he put his hands on her upper arms and guided her into the hug himself, sliding his own around her back after. 

The Doctor makes a noise of understanding somewhere over her shoulder, letting go after what was only another moment. "Thank you," he tells her, the words and almost his entire being oh so careful, like he was afraid of waking a baby, or triggering a trap, or maybe just scaring off a memory.

"It's just a hug," Bill tells him, "did that tell you what that was about?"

"No," the Doctor tells her, shaking his head, but he smiles a moment later, "And yes, and no." He turns, moves with an ease towards the console, drumming his fingers on an empty section of it before spinning around, shrugging in a way that did nothing to dispel the level of satisfaction she could hear in his voice. "But I know her song. Your girl in the bazaar. I know her song. So do you." 

The Doctor points at her for barely a moment as she tries to keep up, "What do you mean?" she asks, and then he is a flash of movement, brandishing his sunglasses as he all but flies up the steps, slipping his guitar off of the armchair there and the strap over his head.

"You asked, remember?" he wants to know, and a moment later his hands are moving, the console room all but filled with the song he was pulling from the instrument like taffy. And she did remember, the first time she'd heard him play it. The next day when she'd asked him for it's name.

"I forget!" Bill offers, excited to piece at least that small puzzle together. The Doctor grins, almost electric.

"That's the one, Bill!" he finishes the song but doesn't remove the shades, or set the guitar down. "Did she say anything else?"

"No. Doctor, what exactly's going on?" Bill's almost wary to ask, and the Doctor shakes his head.

"Wrong question," the Doctor tells her simply, busying himself again with the TARDIS's controls one handed. "Try again."

Bill thinks for a moment, following the Doctor as he circles. "Who was she?" she asks, finally, and the Doctor gives her a thumbs up.

"Do you remember, that time when I was going to erase your memories, get all those traces of sentient space gas and other planets and" he waves his hand, gesturing vaguely, "Australia out of your head?"

"Of course I do," she responds without thinking, and he nods at her, tapping his temple again. "...she's why."

"She's why. And no-" he points at Bill quickly, even as she opens her mouth, "No more questions."

"Just one. Sorry. If-"

"Imagine that you walked out that door, and we were underground." There was a sudden stillness to the Doctor as he half-sat on the edge of the controls, one hand idly stroking the guitar. "So dark, and so deep, that there was not a speck of light to reach you. And all that you had was cold, dry, stale air. All just rocks. And you live like that. You adapt. Eventually you think, ah, it's not so bad down here. Some days, it feels downright warm, because you've got no basis for comparison. It's dark still, but your eyes had adjusted a little. It's fine. You learn to love the taste of whatever creepy crawlies are down there. You get used to the feel of dirt and rocks underneath you when you sleep. It's a life. You miss the things you had before, sure, but they're getting foggy anyway. 

“Then one day you bang your head on a rock, and because this isn't a very scientifically accurate story you forget about the sun. You know that it used to be brighter, back in your old life. It used to be warmer. There used to be this thing in the sky that people would draw energy from. That kept the planet in a nice, safe orbit, just far enough away that people could evolve and thrive and spread about almost he entire place. All of this is foreign to you now, of course. Because it's been a long time. 

“But you've got this sun-shaped hole in your memory, and it's a bit foggy around the edges, and it's painful, because you know that once upon a time? It used to mean a lot. But you can't place why anymore, not really. You can't see it. So you keep living, and maybe you do a little traveling underground. You see new places - as well as you can anyway, things like that. Then one day, there's an earthquake. You're fine - don't worry - but there's a rockfall. You go to investigate it, because of course you do. What do you find? You find a massive cavern, and at the top? There's a crack. It's strange, the crack. You get this weird fresh air down from it, but it's a nice big cavern so you decide to stay there. Why not? 

“You live alone in cave tunnels, presumably doing a really good job of avoiding any hibernating Silurians, and there's room to stretch out there. You sleep out in the middle, because you've got nothing to be afraid of here. And then you wake up, and something's different. Something feels different. There's this... not-cold spot on your face, and it burns your eye a little bit - you just have to close it and then it'll be okay, you'll just be watery for a minute it's fine - and you realize, all at once, that it's a sunbeam. You recognize what it feels like. You still don't remember the sun, what did it look like, anything like that. But you feel it, and you know. That - that not-cold on your face? That's from the sky thingy you can't remember. The important one. 

“And imagine - imagine, because we're imagining now. That you knew without a doubt, that all of this had been done on purpose. That the sun - sorry, sky thingy? It sought out that crack just because it missed you. It reached out a little tendril of light, and it went through the cavern and the dark that had been there instead of it and it's big strong rays, and it was just trying to say hello, it knew there was no way to say I miss you - you forget the sun, remember? And I guess you can hear the sun saying, 'oh it's the moon that misses you, it's this other thing. One you do know. One you've got fond memories with that you've also lost. But you feel that ray, and you still don't know what the sun is. You think maybe you would if you saw it, but a part of you isn't so sure. 

“The thing is though, you remember that feeling. You remember some little thing that you thought you'd forgotten. You know it's still there. You know that the sun is in the sky, and even if you can't see it, even if it's still just this strange empty place in your memory - it's something. The world - the universe is all the better because it's out there, and for a moment you could feel it, and for a moment it was almost like you remembered it. Do you get that? At least a little bit?"

"I... I think so," Bill tells him, still processing parts of the story, taking in the information that had come all at once. 

"Good. Now replace the sun with something that is way, way more important than some run of the mill yellow dwarf star." The Doctor moves to his feet with that, making a show of adjusting his sunglasses to hide the way he wiped his face once his back was turned. He breathes in, back still to her, a long, drawn out, tired thing, as he works at the console controls for just a moment before the TARDIS touches down, somewhere, somewhen. "Home. Leave the - the thing. I'll check it later."

"Are you okay, Doctor?" Bill asks him, turning an hesitating halfway to the door.

"Just got a little sunbeam in my eye," he assures her, the words almost wry. "I'll see you tomorrow. Six."

Bill makes it almost to the door before she stops again, remembering big sad brown eyes. "You will need that part," she reminds him, and after a moment's hesitation, she walks back towards him purposefully. "Or Nardole thinks you do, at least. You need to bring something back, or you'll never hear the end of it. Got anywhere else we can look?"

"Maybe," the Doctor tells her, and he sighs, but she doesn't think it's a bad sigh, not really. 

"This guy I know. Absolute genius. He says it's a pretty big universe out there." He still isn't looking at her, but she slips a hand into his. "Never know what you'll find, picking up a spare part."

"It's not that simple. There are...reasons it isn't. If it was that easy I never would have wound up lecturing in the first place."

"It's super easy. We're going to shop for parts, and probably find some really good ways to distract you. Way I see it, as long as we're traveling together?" She raises an eyebrow, half-grinning up at him. "You might not know what the sun looks like, but I do now. And? I happen to be pretty damn sure the sun misses the hell out you. So...what do you say? I know I always feel better if I keep moving."

"...I do too," the Doctor admits, glancing down at her, with a smile that comes very close to saying 'what the hell'.


End file.
